Madera hasn't had much luck against Buchanan recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Madera Coyotes will look to defend their home field against the Buchanan Bears at 4:00 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Madera barely beat Golden Valley the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Madera never let Golden Valley get on the board and left with an 11-0 win last Friday. The Coyotes have beaten the Cougars the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Cougars has come to flipping the script.
Kearney Opfergelt was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Opfergelt was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-2.
In other pitching news, Jayleen Gutknecht looked comfortable as she tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Sadie Gonzalez, who went 1-for-2 with one home run and four RBI. Destinee Avila was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Buchanan). Everything went their way against Chowchilla on Friday as Buchanan made off with an 11-1 victory. Considering the Bears have won four games by more than eight runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Like Madera, Buchanan also got a great game from a two-way player: Brooklyn Ainsworth. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out eight over six innings pitched. Ainsworth has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-4.
In other batting news, Sammie Kulak was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing Three bases. while going 3-for-4. Those three stolen bases gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Addy Schafer, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one double.
Buchanan hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Chowchilla struck out eight times.
The win made it two in a row for Buchanan and bumps their season record up to 7-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Madera, their victory bumped their record up to 2-0.
